Fashion fades, but a good luggage set should be eternal. Thankfully Dooney & Bourke have the solution to your problems right before the traveling season really starts to test you. The Connecticut-based leather goods label has relaunched its mens collection with a series of products that are elegant, durable and timeless. Featuring a series of luxuriously utilitarian travel goods including duffel bags, messenger bags, and briefcases, each product is made with pure Florentine and Italian leather. Additionally, leather bound notebooks and document holders will fare well for the creative in your life, while their wallets make a suitable gift for any gentleman, any occasion.
So while flight delays and general airport anxiety might get you down, rest assure that all your goods will be protected with Dooney & Bourke’s classic leather collection, available online now.
It somehow sounds too good to be true, but finally Tom Ford has opened its first beauty and grooming store. A place to indulge and be pampered and leave looking Fucking Fabulous? Located in Covent Garden, London, the 130 square meter store is a luxuriously futuristic space that is equipped with never-before-seen high-tech beauty services. The mirrors record the make-up tutorials and email them in chapters to the customers, virtual trials are available for lip colors, and an interactive perfume counter with large LED screens.
All that cool stuff aside, the grooming room is the must-see. A Ford-approved expert barber awaits to bestow you with a cut, a beard trim, express facials, or a classic hot towel and close-cut wet shave. Here’s hoping that this is a trend that more labels will try to achieve, creating a brilliant experience with the brand that is just as fantastic as the products themselves.
The store is open now at 3 The Market Building, Covent Garden.Book your appointment online here.
English surreal fashion brand J.W. Anderson continues to create waves in the fashion world with its upcoming release with Converse. This is the second drop in the ongoing collaboration of the two labels, which was revealed at leading menswear trade show in Italy, Pitti Uomo, when Anderson debuted the collaboration alongside his 2018 Spring/Summer collection. Classic Converse shoe models (including the High Top, updated Vintage U-Throat Ballet Low Top get decked out in glitter. Festive!
Anderson unites his unique and revolutionary creative direction with Converse’s simplistic and universally recognizable shoe models to create a collection that will not slip under the radar. Noteworthy figures like the ever elusive Frank Ocean at FYF Fest in LA back in July have already been seen sporting the colorful kicks and we expect more to hop on the bag wagon soon.The collection will officially drop on December 14th.
The crisp flick of a black card is a sinful, self-indulgent holiday treat when they’re your bags to take home. Here to help you partake in a smarter form of vice, we present the 2017 Holiday Gift Guide for Yourself. Of course, any selfish grab can be balanced by a few humble purchases for the other important people in your life: check back next week for delicious picks for the rest of your family, chosen or stuck with.
1. Cassiar scarf, ACNE STUDIOS
Image: Acne Studios.
This colorful checked scarf from Acne will keep you warm all winter in Britpop fashion.
Cassiar scarf in mid blue/yellow check, $240, ACNE STUDIOS. AcneStudios.com
2. AW Parka, ADIDAS ORIGINALS BY ALEXANDER WANG
Image: Adidas Originals.
Snag a souvenir from one of the year’s most popular collaborative efforts.
AW parka, $300, ADIDAS ORIGINALS BY ALEXANDER WANG. Adidas.com
3. Censer, APPARATUS
Image: Apparatus.
This new incense/candle holder from Apparatus exudes tranquility in any space.
Alessandro Sartori, Ermenegildo Zegna’s artistic director, debuted the new Ermenegildo Zegna Couture XXX collection with an intimate star-studded gathering on December 5th. Actors, models, NBA players and close friends joined in celebration last night at the archetypal Sheats Goldstein Residence in Beverly Hills, then made their way to the premiere venue Club James for a first look at the must-have pieces. The L.A Dance Project gave a special performance wearing the collection — the routine itself was choreographed by Benjamin Millepied, a long time friend of Sartori’s.
The new capsule line features neutral-toned t-shirts, sweatshirts, joggers and sneakers made with sustainable fabrics like recyclable polyester. Subtle pops of elegant ruby and bronze colors are employed alongside the signature logo to further exemplify the brand’s versatility, with items ranging from $135-2295. Alessandro Sartori has taken the iconic Italian brand and given it a youthful, street-ready makeover. Get a look at some of the pieces below.
The Ermenegildo Zegna Couture XXX Collection is available now in Los Angeles and New York, and globally on February 8th, 2018.
With multiple stores in London and a ready-to-wear line available at Mr. Porter, British tailor Thom Sweeney is at the forefront of the new suit game. We spoke to to the duo behind the label on opening day of their new — and first in the country — store in SoHo. A little background: the brand started in 2007 by Luke Sweeney and Thom Whiddet. Sweeney learned the tools of the trade working with British tailor Timothy Everest, while Whiddet worked in publishing before co-launching the combined eponymous label. Taking the best design cues from tailors before them, they deconstructed the classic suit — Sweeney recalls literally “ripping apart jackets, tweaking the shoulder lines, working the lapel widths, the sleeve widths, arm hole height,” etc — to repurpose it for today, preserving the timelessness of the craft with a sleeker edge. Ten years later, a store in New York seems like a good fit.
The store itself is an open Soho warehouse with a gentleman’s charm. There’s a classic record player displayed, carefully curated coffee table books placed on various shelves and surfaces, and a decorative motorcycle in the corner — fine decor against a refurbished industrial interior. The space also contains a lounge/fitting room in the store’s rear where customers can receive one-on-one consultations to determine their best suit style and fit. I’ve been to lofts like this. Crack open a beer and listen to Is This It? kind of place. “We’re a little bit more relaxed in the way we operate, we’re not too retail-y. I always say to our guys at works, as as soon as someone comes in offer them a drink, make sure they’re okay and comfortable,” Sweeney tells me. “We don’t really talk about the clothes unless we’re asked questions on how to put the clothes together.” “You have to build an atmosphere,” Whiddet adds. “Getting people down through the door yourself, you have to be apart of it.”
Thom Sweeney has established a certain presence in the industry, and its heritage plays a big role in the brand’s success at attracting younger audiences. “I think social media and blogs and editorials are very tailoring heavy. As we’ve grown, a younger audience is really interested in suiting, and I think we’ve probably become that option, maybe cause we’re a little bit more in tune with whats going on,” Whiddet says.
But for those who don’t always wear the suit, they offer some other essential style advice. “It’s about what makes you making comfortable, that’s good style,” affirms Whiddet “Yeah, definitely,” agrees Sweeney. “But for me personally I never wear trainers with a suit.”
Thom Sweeney is open now at 362 W Broadway, New York, NY 10013.
When Helmut Lang debuted in the 90s, it instantly carved its own special niche within the industry. From the start of the Austrian label’s time in New York City, the designer always found innovative ways to showcase his latest collections. In 1998, two days before his scheduled runway show, Lang decided to live broadcast the entire show online – an ingenious move at the time since the internet was still bubbling with newness. Later that year, he became the first designer to advertise his brand on top of NYC yellow taxi cabs. An even cooler move in 2000 saw the brand’s unconventional print ads placed in National Geographic magazine rather than traditional fashion publications. TLDR; they were always ahead of the curve.
Helmut Lang has solidified itself in the fashion sphere as a pioneer in contemporary and minimalist designs, collaborating with artists and challenging social conventions. Although the label has gone through changes and Lang himself left the namesake brand in 2005, different creative visionaries have taken charge to uphold the brand’s legacy. Now under the helm of Hood by Air designer Shayne Oliver, the brand is taking steps to honor its legacy with a new limited-edition collection and major TBT campaign.
Starting today, Helmut Lang’s groundbreaking taxi ads will re-emerge on 275 NYC yellow taxi cabs in the city. A mini three-piece collection of T-shirts and sweatshirts also launched, and the editorial campaign was cast with real taxi drivers. The pieces various various taxi motifs as well as a print of the original Helmut Lang taxi ad taken by Ian R. Webb, dating back to September 2000 and originally published in the book Postcards from the Edge of the Catwalk. Check out some of the pieces below.
The exclusive pieces are available at Helmut Lang stores and online today.
MOST WANTED (pg. 38) features this season’s most coveted finds, including new Gucci loafers and a tantalizing scent from Versace.
Images: Nao Fujishiro.
BEYOND (pg. 50) When utility and structure meet high performance, embrace the extreme with ease.
Image: Cyrill Matter.
THE DELUXE (pg. 64) Gucci conflates classic silhouettes with vibrant hues and dynamic embellishments, evoking effortless poise.
Image: Byron Mollinedo.
NEW ARRIVALS (pg. 76) details the latest collaborations and launches in fashion and art, including a new capsule collection from Sies Marjan and new speakers from Porsche.
SCENE (pg.80) From the sweatiest parties to the swankiest sit-downs, our eye on what happens during the most happening of times.
STYLE (pg. 86) Choose corduroy; discover new meanings and textural dimensions within the customary fabric.
Image: A. P. Kim.
CONVERSATIONS (pg. 104) Artist Jacolby Satterwhite discusses the intersection of fine art and high fashion with clothing archivist and stylist David Casavant.
Walking down the street and being surrounded by people wearing standard black heavy duty jackets can make long winters even gloomier. That’s why this season we are thankful for French outerwear giant Moncler teaming up with streetwear label Kith for a fabulous winter line that’s anything but basic.
The collection is upbeat, cool, and practical. The first part of the collection drops December 2nd and consists of lacquered nylonjackets, hoodies, accessories and boots. The pieces are bold yet classic, following a simple and timeless red, white, blue and black color theme. Both brand’s logos and symbols can be seen throughout the pieces.The rest of the collection drops a week later, offering t-shirts, hats and a series of sheepskin-lined suede trainers designed in collaboration with Asics. The trainers are available in navy, red, and even leopard print, for the more daring.
The capsule collection will be available tomorrow at Kith and Moncler stores and online, as well as at famed Parisian concept store Colette before it closes for good on the 20th of December.
Looking great starts from the inside. It’s a simple philosophy but not always a simple process, with the ridiculously restricted diet fads and the weird ingredients you can’t always find. So consider supplements! Ingestible grooming and beauty alternatives are becoming more popular and more affordable, particularly across Europe and Japan. It is predicted that global sales of beauty supplements will reach almost 7 billion dollars by 2020. The great news is that a lot of these brands are starting to target men’s specific needs, so we looked into what’s the best of what’s out there now and chose our favorites. Take a look.
Image by: Absolute Collagen
British supplement brand Absolute Collagen has just released a new product line aimed at — shockingly — men’s collagen production. The Stud Box contains 8g drinkable collagen sachets, that provide healthier younger looking skin, reduces fine lines and wrinkles and increases skin hydration. The brand’s formula contains the most collagen in the lowest dose at the lowest possible price.
Image by: Perricone MD
Global leader in anti-aging skincare, Perricone MD offers a Skin & Total Body Supplement that is the ultimate package for a complete beauty boost. The supplements include the Perricone super antioxidant, derma glo, omega-3 among others, all of which support healthier skin, bones, hair and nails. Perfect companion for your daily vitamin you only remember to take 3 days a week.
Image by: Viviscal
The Viviscal Hair Growth Vitamins are currently the most popular hair growth supplements for men in the country. They contain AminoMar marine complex, zinc, Vitamin C, Horsetail extract and flaxseed extract, all of which contribute to thicker, fuller hair. Viviscal of course is not a cure for male-pattern baldness, but an added supplement to round up your haircare routine. The best defence is a good offence.
The most shocking thing about Prince’s 1991 VMA performance wasn’t the gyrating half-naked dancers or the sexually explicit lyrics of his single “Gett Off.” Two minutes into the six minute long performance, Prince turned around, and every household tuned to MTV got a view of Prince’s ass. His skin tight yellow jumpsuit stopped short just above his waist, covering Prince’s assets in nothing but nude-colored lace. It remains one of his most remembered and cheekiest ensembles. The journey from the scantily clad street-punk, immortalized on the record sleeve of Dirty Mind, to the violet-hued regalia of the King-cum-Rockstar of Purple Rain, to the gender-ambiguous sexual preacher of the early 90s tracked Prince’s evolution from prodigious funkmaster to innovative pop alchemist.
“Style is an accurate account of what’s inside every heart,” Prince sang on his 1996 album Emancipation. Like Little Richard and James Brown before him, Prince’s creativity extended to his wardrobe, but his style truly had no precedent: his fearless embrace of femininity revealed an artist unafraid to make his body a temple to the androgynous. In his world, clothing was the outer expression of the heart, mind and soul— places where sexuality and spirituality fused together. And although he’s most remembered for the Renaissance-punk looks of his tour de force Purple Rain, Prince continued to push the limits of “men’s” wear throughout the 80s, as he transformed his unique blend of R&B into a mingling of funk, jazz, and psychedelia. Prince’s clothes said a lot about the man behind the music, and the looks from his albums Parade, Sign o’ The Times, and Lovesexy, and the ones seen in the accompanying music videos, show us an artist constantly pushing the boundaries of gender, genre and style.
The soundtrack to the forgotten star-vehicle Under The Cherry Moon, 1986’s Parade is Prince’s final record with his former band The Revolution and the first to find him becoming truly experimental in form and ambition. Shedding the Baroque looks of Purple Rain and Around the World In A Day, Prince strutted out in tightly fitted lycra pants and crop tops, adorned with large buttons, making his lean torso the center of attention. His color palette incorporated new shades of bold primary colors other than purple, such as indigo, lemon and tangerine. Crop tops were contrasted with an original twist on a classic suit design: a tightly hemmed waist, broad shouldered blazers and swathes of bright colors. Paisley, polka dots and metal studs make appearances on his jackets, vests and blouses, although solid colors are Prince’s primary way to accentuate his petite frame.
In response to criticism that he’d abandoned his black audiences, Prince crafted the expansive Sign O’ The Times, an “urban” funk record stacked side to side with sensual slow jams and political-spiritual sermons. Prince channeled Jimi Hendrix and the aesthetics of the late ‘60s for this era: shaggy fur coats, denim jackets with ironed-on peace sign patches, and fringe-lined bell bottoms. High-necked blouses with pussycat bows were paired with leather jackets, mod-esque suits and an array of chunky, gaudy necklaces. The pussy bow, though originally a staple of 60s runway looks from Saint Laurent and Chanel, had become closely associated with conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher during the 80s. One has to imagine the First Lady was paying homage to the Iron Lady and not to Prince when she donned one earlier this year, although there’s no contest as to who wore it with more flair.
A fusion of the looks from his previous eras, Lovesexy is Prince at his most flamboyant, with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Waistlines got higher, jumpsuits got tighter, and jackets got larger. Most of Prince’s clothing was custom made, and the accompanying tour was a showcase for his constant creative impulse. He had costume designer Helen Hiatt emblazon his clothes with various letters and phrases. The album itself was an exercise in impulsive indulgence in which Prince funkily expressed a non interest in the confines of the gender binary. He was naked and posed like one of Botticelli’s angels on the cover, and Prince extended this ambiguity towards the era’s flashy suits and suggestively tailored rompers. Polka dots became the prominent motif of these looks, appearing on just about every article of clothing. Between his clothes, pillowy long hair and copious use of mascara and blush, Prince was embodying his own gospel as sung on the album: “It’s time for new education/former rules don’t apply.”
Prince’s mainstream success hit a snag after the less-than-stellar sales of Lovesexy, and he wouldn’t return to the pop charts until Diamonds & Pearls three years later. But, by the time he’d appeared on stage at the 1991 VMAs, Prince had challenged the structures of fashion in pop with a kind of forward-looking vision matched only, perhaps, by David Bowie. Over the course of the 90s, even as his music became increasingly less pop and his image decreasingly palatable, his status as a style icon had been firmly cemented. The kind of gender-defying aesthetics we take for granted in contemporary pop, from Young Thug’s dresses to Harry Styles’s glam-rock jumpsuits, were all made possible by Prince’s revolutionary norm-defying style. Prince asked us to look inside our heart, and dress the part. As far as men’s style in pop goes, his rules are the ones to break.
Be sure to check out the limited-edition Prince merch, available online now until December 3rd.
This week in sneaker giants collaborating with young design talent, Reebok announced a two-year partnership with New York-based designer Pyer Moss. As part of the ongoing collaboration, designer of the contemporary label Kerby Jean-Raymond will create two full collections — one luxe, one for the rest of us — with the athletic brand. The first will be presented at New York Fashion Week in February.
“My whole career, all I’ve ever wanted is something like what Yohji [Yamamoto] has at Adidas [with Y-3],” Jean-Raymond said in a statement.
The partnership is unusual for Reebok as it focus on apparel rather than its signature shoes. However, with Moss’ compelling and political design approach, frequently referencing issues like police brutality and racism, it’s sure to be a hit and introduce the designer to an even wider audience. We’ll be certain in February.
